Constitution-defying pastor is assembly commissioner
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, May 6, 2002
A. Stephen Van Kuiken, the pastor of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati and the target of church court cases because of his open defiance of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), will be a commissioner to the 214th General Assembly that will meet in Columbus, Ohio, on June 15-22.
As moderator of the Mount Auburn session, Van Kuiken signed public statements in defiance of the 1) “fidelity/chastity” clause in the Book of Order and 2) the constitutional prohibition forbidding the “marriage” of same-gender couples.
He also has served communion to non-Christians in defiance of the constitutional requirement that limits the Lord’s Table to baptized Christians.
Van Kuiken has been named individually and corporately (with the ruling elders) in a number of church complaints that range in severity from seeking to oust him from the ministry to calling on the Mount Auburn session to recant its statements of defiance.
Even if a presbytery decision is reached quickly, an appeal would delay the final outcome until well after the General Assembly. The Mount Auburn session has appealed previous reprimands by the presbytery.
The Layman Online asked Jerry Houchens of the Office of the General Assembly whether one or more commissioners could make a challenge that would not allow Van Kuiken to be seated as a commissioner.
Houchens said he does not recall that ever happening, but that, according to the Standing Rules of the General Assembly, a challenge is possible.
“You would have to do it on the opening day,” he said, citing a rule that says the stated clerk (Clifton Kirkpatrick) “shall enroll commissioners and delegates on the opening day of the General Assembly and at such other times as may be necessary.”
Once that process is completed, “the clerk will make his report and declare that a quorum is present,” Houchens said. “At that point, you would have to challenge a commissioner.”
What happens next is unclear. The clerk could make a unilateral decision whether or not to seat a commissioner. Then, “the stated clerk shall determine any questions that may arise,” Houchens said, reading from the Standard Rules.
If there are questions – or complaints – the clerk would forward them to the Committee on General Assembly Commissioners. The rules provide no guidelines for how long the committee would consider a challenge. Conceivably, a challenged commissioner could fully participate in the General Assembly without a decision being made.
One long-time General Assembly observer told The Layman Online that any challenge against Van Kuiken could produce a backlash – with challenges against other commissioners who were members of congregations that withheld their per-capita apportionments.
Although the constitution and church courts say that a session’s payment of per capita is voluntary, Kirkpatrick has declared that any ministers or elders who recommend withholding the payment of per-capita apportionments could be in violation of their ordination vows.
He did not use langauge that severe in his warning to Mount Auburn’s session.
The General Assembly Committee on Procedures is funded by per-capita payments. So is Kirkpatrick’s office.